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SEATTLE (AP) — A man who was denied a liver transplant because he used marijuana with medical approval to ease the symptoms of hepatitis C has died.

Timothy Garon, 56, died Thursday at Bailey-Boushay House, an intensive care nursing center, said his lawyer, Douglas Hiatt, and Alisha Mark, a spokeswoman for Virginia Mason Medical Center, which operates Bailey-Boushay.

His death came a week after his doctor told him a University of Washington Medical Center committee had again denied him a spot on the liver transplant list because of his use of marijuana, although it was authorized under Washington state law.

The case highlights an ethical consideration for those allocating organs for transplant: whether using dope with a doctor's blessing should be held against a dying patient in need of a transplant.

The Virginia-based United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees the nation's transplant system, leaves it to individual hospitals to develop criteria for transplant candidates.

At some, people who use "illicit substances" — including medical marijuana, even in the dozen states that allow it — are automatically rejected. At others, patients are given a chance to reapply if they stay clean for six months. Marijuana is illegal under federal law.

Dr. Brad Roter, who authorized Garon to smoke pot to alleviate nausea and abdominal pain and to stimulate his appetite, said he did not know it would be such a hurdle if Garon were to need a transplant.

Garon told The Associated Press last week he believed he contracted hepatitis C by sharing needles with "speed freaks" as a teenager. In recent years, he said, pot was been the only drug he used.

Today Representative Barney Frank (D-Mass.) introduced legislation to decriminalize the possession of up to 100 grams of marijuana and the not-for-profit transfer of one ounce of marijuana.Congressman Frank's legislation would decriminalize the possession of up to 100 grams of marijuana and the not-for-profit transfer of one ounce of marijuana. It would not affect laws prohibiting drug sales or the cultivation of marijuana, and it would not affect state or local laws regulating marijuana possession."It's time for the politicians to catch up with the public on this [issue]," Congressman Frank said. "The notion that you lock people up for smoking marijuana is pretty silly."The bill incorporates the basic recommendation of the National Commission on Marijuana and Drug Abuse (also known as the Shafer Commission). The commission, which was administered by the White House and published its findings in 1972, recommended that then-president Richard Nixon decriminalize possession of marijuana in amounts that constituted "simple possession."Thirty-six years later, Rep. Frank will try to do just that. Why support this legislation?- Currently, 1 out of every 100 Americans is behind bars, and many of these prisoners are non-violent drug offenders.- Arresting, prosecuting, and incarcerating people simply for possessing marijuana for personal use is an illogical waste of our government's limited resources.- Each year, more than 700,000 people are arrested for marijuana offenses, costing American taxpayers more than $7 billion annually. Despite this, marijuana is still easily available, both to adults and minors.- The money saved from ending marijuana prohibition could provide health insurance each year to 4.5 million uninsured children in the U.S. This legislation would be an important first step towards that.

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Medical Marijuana: California Dr. Molly Fry Sentenced to Five Years | Stop the Drug War (DRCNet)

A federal judge in Sacramento sentenced Dr. Marion "Mollie" Fry and her companion, attorney Dale Schafer, to five years in federal prison for conspiring to grow and distribute marijuana on March 19. Fry, who used marijuana herself in connection with radical breast cancer surgery, and Schafer, who used it for back pain and a dangerous form of hemophilia, also provided marijuana to patients under California's Compassionate Use Act.

But the Justice Department prosecuted the couple under the federal marijuana laws, leaving US District Judge Frank Damrell Jr. no choice but to impose the mandatory minimum five-year prison sentenced required under the law because they had more than 100 plants.

"It is a sad day, a terrible day," Damrell said during sentencing, adding that if it were up to him, the punishment would have been less. But he also criticized Fry and Schafer for refusing to accept a plea bargain that could have left them free. "You had the opportunity to resolve this case, but you wanted to soldier on, knowing that your kid would be left behind," he told the couple.

In a departure from normal practice on the federal bench and to the delight of supporters who packed the courtroom, Judge Damrell granted the pair bail, so they will remain free while their case is appealed. Damrell, who is also presiding over the Bryan Epis case and has granted him bail too, said the exceptional circumstances of the case create "serious issues that need to be decided by an appellate court." Among those, he noted, are Fry and Schafer's claim they were entrapped.

Our medical marijuana benefit concert Friday night was a HUGE success! We raised close to $500! Thank you to all who attended.

The music was exquisite, as was the venue. Nicole, Vernon and Elaine also spoke about their own experiences and they did great! Thank you to Glenn, who set up all the bands and arranged the venue, for all his hard work.

Also in attendance was Irvin Rosenfeld, one of the Nation’s only Federal medical cannabis patients. The Federal government actually, to this very day, sends him 300 marijuana cigarettes every month for his medical condition. Grown by the University of Mississippi under contract by The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA), which is the only legal source for cannabis in the United States under Federal law.

Also, Mr Rosenfeld cannot be arrested anywhere in the country for possession! He has 100% legal marijuana. Most people don’t even think there is such a thing. But there is! He is living proof of it. You can read more about him and others like him below. He is truly a national celebrity in the medical cannabis movement. We feel honored to have had him in attendance.

He sits on the board of directors for an organization called "Patients out of Time", an organization founded and run by official federal medical cannabis patients. Who also have 100% legal marijuana! But, only for themselves unfortunately. The program they were involved in (Compassionate Investigational New Drug program (IND) was terminated in 1992 courtesy of George Bush, Sr. Why was it terminated? A number of AIDS patients started applying to it, so they shut it down. How kind of them to do that.

"Patients out of Time"
medicalcannabis.com

Google video of Irvin Rosenfeld


Youtube video of Irvin Rosenfeld

Reason Magazine - Hit & Run >

Jacob Sullum | March 27, 2008, 12:44pm

This week Tim Stevens, a 53-year-old Amarillo man who smokes marijuana to relieve the cyclical vomiting syndrome associated with HIV infection, used a necessity defense to win an acquittal on a possession charge. His attorney, Jeff Blackburn, says this appears to be the first time the defense, which argues that breaking the law was necessary to prevent a harm worse than the one the law is aimed at preventing, has been successful in a Texas marijuana case.

Stevens, whose vomiting has been so severe that he was hospitalized and received blood transfusions, was arrested last October after an anonymous tipster saw him sharing a joint on a friend's porch in Amarillo and called the police. He had about a twelfth of an ounce of marijuana, resulting in a Class B misdemeanor charge that carries a penalty of up to six months in jail and a $2,000 fine. He probably could have gotten off with a fine or a year's probation, Blackburn says, "but he didn't want to; he wanted to take a stand." The trial lasted about 10 hours on Tuesday, and the jury came back after 11 minutes with a "not guilty" verdict.

Blackburn says the expert testimony of Steve Jenison, medical director of the Infectious Diseases Bureau in New Mexico's Department of Health, helped establish that marijuana is demonstrably effective at treating nausea and superior in some ways to the legal alternatives. (For one thing, unlike the synthetic THC capsule Marinol, it does not have to be swallowed and kept down, a feat for someone suffering from severe nausea.) Blackburn, who was not at all confident about the prospects for Stevens' unusual defense in a "very, very conservative area," also credits "a streak of independence" and a "distaste for government" that he says is common in West Texas. "I think these jurors like the idea that they get to make a decision about what the law means, about when it applies," he says, "and I don't think they were shy at all about deciding how valuable the law proscribing marijuana use really is."